Siraj Davis: My Life: Persona Non Grata Asian American

This music video was released on the anniversary of my mother’s death on March 10 – RIP Kimiko Stencil Nomura.

It begins with interfaith singing of “Amazing Grace” with Bree Newsome’s taking down of the South Carolina confederate flag. The preceding combination highlights the positive purpose of religion which is tolerance and humility; instead of division, intolerance, and bigotry. We all derive from one creator.
It also exposes the subtle yet palpable discrimination against Asian Americans in South Carolina. Such discrimination has been manifested throughout US history under caricatures in film depicting modern stereotypes of Asians as submissively childlike and physically weak, sexually deviant and immature, an untrustworthy possible spy class of yellow peril, a model minority wherein high Asian intelligence precludes depictions as cool and heroic. A perpetual foreigner.

The preceding stereotypes, in my own experience, was compounded by poverty. This video celebrates my resilient struggle to escape discrimination and society’s shackles against me for being half American in Japan, to being half Japanese in America; to succeed despite all of the world’s negativity and bias resulting from socially created bubbles of what certain religious, racial, and national identities can and can not be or can and can not do, due to societal constructs justified by myths and canards.

Finally, the music video is about my conversion from juvenile delinquency from a gang life to a teacher, journalist, author, 6 languages, HR activist/ organizer/ political lobbyist and TV commentator; via embracing God and religion as a conduit.

“Sometimes the people with the worst history, become the best leaders of the future” – Omar Bin Al Khattab